showcase brazil issue 214

May 2010

Welcome to the latest issue of Showcase Brazil, brought to you by Production Paradise. We present the latest news form the Brazilian visual media scene, with more information available in our dedicated Film and Photo directories.

Our Magazines and Directories are now fully optimised for iPhones and Blackberries - check out our Tools page for more info. Also, don't miss the jobs postings and special deals available exclusively to our Members.

AD Studio is a Sao Paulo-based production house owned by director and musician, Jarbas Agnelli. He formerly worked as an art director in a number of Brazilian agencies before opening his own company.

AD Studio produces, post produces and completes the soundtracks for most of its films. The ad 'The Week' for Epoca Magazine is one of the most recognised commercials in the world after being awarded a Gold Lion in Cannes and a Grand Clio.

Jarbas has also directed and produced several award-winning music videos. His crew includes animators, architects and motion designers. Among them is Tomas Egger, EFX director, who also directs some of the company's spots.

Created in 1997 by Eduardo Cama, Dinamo Filmes was the first element in the Dinamo Group that now incorporates Dinamo Digital and Dinamo Entertainment. Ricardo Carelli is responsible for the creative section of Dinamo Digital, Dinamo Filmes' computer graphics and finishing company.

In 1998, Dinamo began working with some of the leading agencies and biggest advertisers. Its crew includes six directors; three in Dinamo Filmes and three in Dinamo Digital.

The group stands as one of the most active production companies in the Brazilian publicity market, with at least six productions per month. As a result, Dinamo Filmes is amongst the ten leading production companies in Brazil.

Creative productions and great styles stand out among BossaNovaFilms' latest productions. The commercial "Pinocchio", directed by Luiz Ferré for the National Committee for Self-Regulation Advertising in Brazil, is inspired by 1970s police action films such as "Dirty Harry". The film chase sequence was created with both 3D effects and traditional puppetry techniques.

Another recent production is music video 'Temporary Insanity', created and directed by Ivy Abujamra for the Brazilian singer and comedy actress Marisa Orth. In the video, Marisa performs as a lady who kills her husband during a PMS attack. It was shot in HD, adopts the language of short films, and is aesthetically inspired by Almodóvar’s movies.

BossaNovaFilms is also shooting new seasons for three Brazilian TV shows, producing three feature films and developing a bunch of interactive projects, one of which is currently a finalist for the FITC Awards 2010. Check out “Send Your Love” here.

CINE is a commercial film production company founded 15 years ago by director, Clovis Mello, and executive producer, Raul Doria.

The CINE group, which includes special effects and computer graphics division Digital21, is based between São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro. Half of its 100 employees have been working with CINE since its foundation, and the company is recognised within the industry for keeping a modern human resources policy that ensures a low turnover.

Throughout 15 years of activity the company's focus has been on producing commercial films, serving the leading Brazilian agencies and advertisers. CINE plays not only a creative and economic leadership role in the Brazilian market, but has also helped to improve the international standing of the sector.

Film Planet has a 20-year history in the highly competitive Brazilian filmmaking industry. The company has made more than 3,000 spots, short films, DVDs, documentaries, music videos and live concerts for clients in Brazil, Latin America and overseas.

The quality delivered to each project and the expertise of its teams has driven Film Planet to be the very first Brazilian production company to expand internationally. Its offices in Sao Paulo, Los Angeles, Buenos Aires and Rio de Janeiro share multilingual crews, state-of-the-art equipment and facilities, and combine the best features of each market.

Each location offers people who love their work and believe that collaboration and intelligence are the best way to transform ideas into great films.

Founded in 1982 and led by producer Paulo Dantas, Movie&Art has completed over 3,600 productions following its strict criteria of excellence and uniqueness that has made the company a benchmark in the Brazilian advertising and feature film markets. With its state-of-the-art infrastructure, Movie&Art has produced and provided production services for countless commercials, documentaries, short films, feature films and TV Shows. Over the last few years, the company has intensified its work in feature films and television content.

Headquartered in Sao Paulo and with offices in Rio de Janeiro and Caracas, Venezuela, Movie&Art is comprised of a wide web of partners in countries such as Argentina, Chile, Uruguay, the UK, the USA, Portugal and France.

Movie&Art has a solid roster of both Brazilian and Argentinean directors and features an international label with both American and European-based directors in order to better serve agencies in Brazil and abroad.

Under the supervision of Claudia Secaf, Retrato Falado produces and directs castings with an analytical and innovative approach to searching for new faces and talents. It offers a service open to directors, photographers, producers and creative agencies by continually researching and launching ideas, learning and teaching with the experiences it has gained.

Offering more than simple coordination, the company's acting agency has been producing castings for more than 10 years.

Retrato Falado offers more than just the traditional image bank of actors, actresses and models. The company also possesses an exclusive archive of alternative research (street casting), where it has captured the natural beauty of people of all ages and styles. Its low operational costs offer greater agility and lend a more natural feel to the final product.

Paulo Vainer began his career in 1978 as an assistant to photographer Bob Wolfenson. In 1981 he went to New York City to work with Steve Bronstein, and upon returning to Brazil he assisted photographer Andreas Heiniger before starting his own career as a photographer at Abril Publishing House Studios. In 1990, Paulo set up his own studio and has since worked to become one of the leading fashion and advertising photographers in Brazil.

Simultaneously, in 1991 he began working as a DOP with directors Ricardo Van Steen, Walter Salles and Andrucha Waddington. With this valuable experience, Paulo quickly began his career as a film director, working for major ad agencies throughout Brazil.

In 2004 he launched his first feature as a DOP, 'Noel - O Poeta da Vila' (Ricardo Van Steen). Alongside his commercial work, Paulo has taken part in several collective and solo exhibitions at MASP, Galeria Luiza Strina and Galeria Vermelho.

Manolo Moran is a Brazilian photographer based in Sao Paulo. His work privileges portraiture, beauty and 'awkward' characters. He has a special gift for directing models and supervising staff through every stage of a production.

Manolo started his career in Barcelona in 1985. After returning to Brazil, he worked at the advertising agency DPZ where he decided to focus on advertising photography. He has won several Cannes Lions at the International Advertising Festival and was elected 'Best Ad Photographer' from 1995 to 2000 by the Brazilian magazine Meio & Mensagem.

Since 2008, he has been a member of the jury board of the CCSP (Clube de Criação de São Paulo), a Brazilian organisation that annually discusses and selects the most creative work in Brazilian advertising.

Manolo's images have been published in Luerzer's Archive '200 Best Ad Photographers'.

Ricardo Barcellos is based in São Paulo, from where he enjoys an extensive and successful career as an advertising photographer. He is incredibly versatile, moving comfortably between still life and portraiture for advertising clients, magazines, beauty editorials and conceptual art work.

Alongside his professional work Ricardo has developed a series of conceptual projects that are inspired by philosophical and anthropological ideas. His images are technically and aesthetically impeccable.

As an advertising photographer, he has won two Silver Lions as well as several prestigious awards in his native Brazil. In 2006, he was one of 30 photographers selected worldwide to contribute to the exhibition 'New Photographers 2007' promoted by Getty Images.

With his personal work Ricardo has staged one individual and two collective exhibitions at the Pinacoteca do Estado, one of the most prestigious venues in Brazil. 2010 brought invitations for him to hold two more major exhibitions in São Paulo.

Established in the advertising photography market for the last 27 years, Fernando Zuffo has developed a unique style thanks to various techniques for treating images: turning the image, chromatic fusions and colouration, resources that preceded Photoshop, are techniques he has been using for the last 15 years. Such practices make effective his determination to work on all aspects of the image within his own studio.

The studio has sufficient installations to make large productions possible, and latest generation technology and a well-organised team place it in an industry-leading position. As a result, Zuffo Photography can undertake ever-larger projects of greater complexity for a market with extremely high standards that demands results.

Paulo Mancini was born in São Paulo in 1961. He began shooting for magazines and fashion catalogues in 1985, and lived in Milan from 1989 to 1993 from where he developed the same line of work.

Upon returning to Brazil, he devoted special attention to advertising photography. Paulo has participated in several collective exhibitions and one solo show, entitled 'Miracle', that was exhibited at Pinacoteca do Estado. He has won a selection of advertising awards and published two books: "Avon: Make-up Across the Ages" in 1996, and "Cosmos Three Views on Russia" in 2007, that was also exhibited at Pinacoteca.

He has recently worked with some of the leading advertising agencies and is currently developing personal essays in preparation for a book about China, due to be launched later this year.

After studying photography at Chabot College in San Francisco, California, Jorge Lepesteur spent seven years assisting the best fashion and advertising photographer in Brazil before starting his own career in 2001.

With a keen eye he applies the fantasy of his images to real life in a simple and provocative way.

Clients include Nokia, Fiat, Tim, Vogue, Trip and Telefonica. Jorge also shoots editorial assignments and exhibits his personal work, and teaches a course "Fashion: Concept and Narrative" at the International Center of Photography in New York.

Paula Klien was born in Rio de Janeiro, the city she has always lived. Specialised in fashion, beauty and portraits, she has photographed some of Brazil's most important models as well as more than 80 top celebrities.

Paula's aesthetic eyes were developed during visual arts studies and in her previous career. Her technical skills go beyond camera and lights, handling her own post production image work - usually preferring to maintain the image as natural as possible. She enjoys successful partnerships with renowned stylists, beauty artists, casting directors and location producers.

Publications and campaigns include Vogue Brasil, Isto É Platinum, Isto É Gente, Contigo, Polo Life, Drops Magazine, Caffè Magazine, Botafogo Praia Shopping, Eclectic and Juliana Faro. Paula has also taken part in numerous exhibitions and is featured in many professional fashion books. She is regularly involved in her own special projects.

Andre Salcedo:
Sao Paulo fashion photographers

André Salcedo has been working as a professional photographer in the fashion, beauty and advertising markets for over 10 years, valuing and stamping his signature on many images produced in the studio or out on location.

Focusing on the fashion publishing, advertising, people and lifestyle markets, André Salcedo Photographic Studio enjoys partnerships with renowned professionals in hair and make-up, fashion styling, props, locations and casting to execute clients' ideas and turn them into reality.

With a degree in architecture from the Universidade de Sao Paulo, Stela Morato's proximity to photography comes from four generations of Italian-Brazilian filmmakers. Her passion for gastronomy was born in her Tuscan grandparents' kitchen and fed by constant trips to open markets in search of the perfect ingredients.

Specialised in studio photography and cinema lighting, Stela has worked with large and medium scale productions, leading her to fund her own studio in 1985. The installations were built with cooking facilities in mind.

When she is not taking photos, she coordinates production of food for advertising films and writes about gastronomy and travel for a range of magazines. Kids and animals are a favourite subject of her work.

Southside Productions provides photo and film production services throughout Brazil. Its main goal is to facilitate the work of clients, agencies and artists by offering production services with a professional, straightforward and transparent approach.

Brazil’s natural beauty combined with its cultural and architectural diversity provide a wide variety of different location genres, ranging from pristine beaches, forests and islands, sand dunes, awesome mountains, beautiful skies and huge waterfalls to great urban centres and colonial villas. All of this is located in the southern hemisphere, where the seasons are inverted in relation to other international production centres.

With an enormous multi-ethnic variety for casting, a wide range of locations and extremely competitive costs, Southside Productions can guarantee a smooth process and great results for any type of film or photo production.

The company has worked on prestigious local and international productions for clients including Embraer, GM Motors, Ford Motors, Chrysler Motors, Samsung and Smirnoff, as well as agencies such as McCann Erickson Brazil, MBA London, DDB London, JWT Dubai, Leo Burnett Colombia and Neonred Group GMBH Germany.

Litmedia first appeared in New York and in 2006 opened a full service production office in Rio de Janeiro, providing high quality production services with typical New York City style. Litmedia Brazil offers location scouting, castings, local bookings, rental equipment, on site management and travel assistance. Through its vast network of worldwide contacts the Litmedia team can provide all the elements needed for its clients' productions, along with all the necessities to make crews feel like they are shooting home from home.

Litmedia services include full service commercial and editorial shoot production, back-of-house fashion show production, event production and consulting services. Litmedia has worked with some of the world's most influential photographers, including Vincent Peters, Gui Paganini, Francois Rousseu, Thomas Schenk and Lori Simmons. Clients include Calvin Klein, L'Oréal, Prps, DKNY, Revlon, Elle, Vogue and Dazed & Confused. Email the company direct for more information.

Rio de Janeiro is one of the most beautiful cities in the world, with its sexy hot beaches, lush forests, exotic culture, diverse architecture and sunny blue sky. Capture Brazil can take care of every production need with total dedication and professionalism to make shooting in Rio the ultimate experience.

Capture Brazil is already looking forward to next season and welcoming old and new clients alike to experience the pleasure and amazement of Rio and the many other fantastic regions Brazil has to offer. The company thanks everyone who helped make this season such a successful one.

Fujocka creates and uses the right tools to best serve and satisfy its exacting clients. At the forefront of Fujocka Photodesign is a plastic artist. With extensive experience in photography, he has been responsible for transforming a post production studio into a true art studio.

The team is diverse: designers, illustrators and photographers all demonstrate their creativity through technical resources. With high attention to detail and a careful eye, the company has achieved recognition through numerous awards and is becoming a true reference point for quality.